WebCanine.com » cancer

Stem cell banking for dogs

mom — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:59:06 +0000

Cultured stem cells from your dog can be used for arthritis or cancer treatment in the future. Other diseases are being researched for this treatment.

How to get stem cells from your dog and then bank them:
The StemInsure service provides banked stem cells that can be grown to supply a lifetime of stem cell therapy for dogs.

The process is
Collect only 5 grams of fat (about the size of a grape).
Collect fat at spay, neuter, or any procedure where your vet uses anesthesia.
Vet-Stem processes and banks stem cells for future culturing (growing) and use.

Affordability
Reasonable up front processing cost (see your veterinarian for specific pricing).
Only $50 per year banking (storage) fee for the StemInsure sample after the first year.
Costs are spread out over time.
Avoid a separate surgical fat collection in the future.
Provide treatment options for current applications as well as future applications of stem cells.
One fat collection per patient can provide a lifetime of stem cell therapy.

Important Facts for Dog Owners:
Cells will need to be cultured prior to use for treatment.
There will be additional future charges for Cell Culturing and Banked Doses before the cells can be used to treat your dog.

What You Should Do:
Contact your veterinarian and ask about StemInsure for your dog.
Contact Vet-Stem by email at customerservice@Vet-Stem.com or call them at 858-748-2004.

Consider preventative collection of fat and storage of stem cells whenever your dog is undergoing an anesthetized procedure.

Autologous stem-cell based treatments for tendon injury, ligament injury, and osteoarthritis in dogs have been available to veterinarians in the United States since 2005. Over 3000 privately-owned horses and dogs have been treated with autologous adipose-derived stem cells. The efficacy of these treatments has been shown in double-blind clinical trials for dogs with osteoarthritis of the hip and elbow and horses with tendon damage. The efficacy of using stem cells, whether adipose-derived or bone-marrow derived, for treating tendon and ligament injuries in horses has support in the veterinary literature…

Currently, research is being conducted to develop stem cell treatments for: 1) horses suffering from COPD, neurologic disease, and laminitis; and 2) dogs and cats suffering from heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, neurologic disease, and immune-mediated disorder.

Black LL, Gaynor J, Adams C, et al. (2008). “Effect of intraarticular injection of autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem and regenerative cells on clinical signs of chronic osteoarthritis of the elbow joint in dogs”. Vet. Ther. 9 (3): 192–200. PMID 19003780.

Nixon AJ, Dahlgren LA, Haupt JL, Yeager AE, Ward DL (July 2008). “Effect of adipose-derived nucleated cell fractions on tendon repair in horses with collagenase-induced tendinitis”. Am. J. Vet. Res. 69 (7): 928–37. doi:10.2460/ajvr.69.7.928. PMID 18593247

Penn Researchers : Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Vaccine

mom — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:36:08 +0000

October 18, 2011

PHILADELPHIA — An experimental vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine is the first veterinary cancer vaccine of its kind that shows an increase in survival time for dogs with spontaneous non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The work shows for the first time the feasibility and therapeutic efficacy of this alternative cell-based vaccine, which could be employed in the treatment of a number of different cancer types.

The research was conducted by Nicola Mason, assistant professor of medicine at Penn Vet; Robert H. Vonderheide, associate professor of hematology and oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine; and Karin U. Sorenmo, associate professor of oncology at Penn Vet. Erika Krick, Beth Overley and Thomas P. Gregor of Penn Vet and Christina M. Coughlin of the School of Medicine also contributed to the research.

Their work was published in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

The team recruited dogs that were brought to Penn’s Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital with newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma to receive the experimental vaccine following standard induction chemotherapy and confirmation of clinical remission. The goal of the study was to determine whether the vaccine would prevent or prolong time to a relapse, a common scenario in both humans and dogs with NHL.

“We vaccinated dogs, which were in clinical remission following chemotherapy, three times,” Mason said. “We then tracked them over several years to see if the vaccine would prevent relapse and would prolong overall survival.

“We found that, although the vaccinated dogs still relapsed with clinical disease when they were treated with rescue chemotherapy, they had significantly increased overall survival times when compared to an unvaccinated control group. Some of these dogs are still alive and cancer free more than three years later.

“The results with these dogs indicate that our immunotherapy and rescue chemotherapy appear to act synergistically to prevent a second relapse – a phenomenon that has been previously recognized in human patients treated with other types of immunotherapy,” she said.

Previous cell based vaccines have utilized genetically engineering dendritic cells — which are part of the immune system — to stimulate immune responses against cancers. Similar to using weakened viruses in traditional vaccines, scientists load these cells with tumor proteins and inject the cells back into the patient’s body. Such cell-based vaccines are already being used to treat prostate cancer in humans, but engineering these cells is expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, patients must also endure long, leukapheresis sessions in which the necessary dendritic cells are harvested from their blood.

The Penn team hypothesized that another kind of immune cell, B-cells, could work just as well under the right conditions. Unlike dendritic cells, many B-cells can be grown from a small blood sample, removing the requirement for leukapheresis.

Mason’s team made the vaccine by culturing B-cells from the blood taken from the dogs with NHL. These cells were then loaded with RNA that had been isolated from the patient’s own tumor.

The results were impressive.

“Though vaccinated and unvaccinated dogs relapsed with clinical disease at the same time, 40 percent of vaccinated dogs that relapsed experienced long-term survival after a second round of chemotherapy; only 7 percent of unvaccinated dogs that relapsed and were treated with the same rescue chemotherapy protocol survived long term,” Mason said. “Furthermore, when the vaccinated long-term survivors did eventually die, they showed no evidence of lymphoma on full necropsy.”

While the molecular mechanisms responsible for these observed synergistic effects are currently unknown, Mason believes that the vaccine-primed immune system may be boosted by the effects of rescue chemotherapy leading to long term second remissions.

Though the increases in long-term survival are already unprecedented and the proof-of-concept for B-cell-based cancer vaccines represents a step forward in cell-based vaccine development, future research could have even more exciting results.

“These dogs just received three doses of vaccine, three weeks apart. If we kept boosting the immune system in this way by vaccination, perhaps the dogs would not relapse in the first place,” Mason said.

Work is now underway to streamline B-cell vaccine generation and initiate further clinical trials aimed at optimizing this novel cell-based approach.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, Onyx and Breezy Foundation, Barry and Savannah Poodle Memorial Fund, Mari Lowe Comparative Oncology Center, Immunobiology Program of the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania and Oncology Research Fund at the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Bone Marrow Transplant in Dog

mom — Fri, 20 May 2011 03:14:01 +0000

Veterinary Specialty Hospital Success With Its First Bone Marrow Transplant In Dog With Lymphoma

Veterinary Specialty Hospital of San Diego (VSH) has successfully performed a hematopoietic cell transplant (better known as bone marrow transplant) for a dog with lymphoma. Cody, an otherwise active and healthy 7-year old male Golden Retriever completed his treatment and is thriving with no complications 4 months after his discharge from the hospital.

Chemotherapy is the current treatment for dogs diagnosed with this type of cancer, but most patients succumb to this disease in less than 18 months even with therapy. For the past two decades, there has been little change in this prognosis.

Bone marrow cell transplant therapy is a treatment option for humans diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma and is a method that improves survival for many patients diagnosed with these diseases. This success is the motivating factor in development of a bone marrow transplant protocol to improve treatment outcome for dogs diagnosed with canine lymphoma.

According to Brenda Phillips, DVM, ACVIM (Oncology) and head of the transplant team, “as one of only 4 transplant centers in the United States, we are excited to offer this therapy as a potential cure for dogs diagnosed with the devastating disease of canine lymphoma.”

For the past decade several dozen dogs with lymphoma have been treated with bone marrow transplant therapy. The protocols for bone marrow transplant have evolved to provide a well-tolerated treatment approach for our canine lymphoma patients.

While the cost of hematopoietic cell therapy is moderately high, it is close to the cost of traditional induction chemotherapy followed by several rescue therapy protocols, typically necessary for most canine lymphoma patients to achieve greater than a one-year survival.

Article Date: 03 May 2011 – 8:00 PDT
Source:
Veterinary Specialty Hospital
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/224054.php

Cancer Treatment Update

mom — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:48:12 +0000

Dr. Rowan Milner, BVSc, MedVet
University of Florida

Introduction
Veterinary oncology is undergoing fundamental change. The old paradigm of if it can’t be surgically removed then euthanasia is the next step no longer applies. The reason for this change is due to the following factors: pet owners are becoming more sophisticated in their requirements for specialized treatment, improved results due to better treatment protocols and drugs, a heightened awareness in private practitioner of the early signs of neoplasia leads to earlier detection of cancer leading to more successful treatment, and an increase in age of the pet population has lead to a population of pets with a greater risk of developing cancer.
A very important consideration in veterinary oncology is client counseling. Cancer has a very emotional connotation and requires tact and patience in giving bad news to the owner. In the medical field, physicians are taught to steer the middle course by using language that would dispel ignorance without dispelling hope. Veterinarians need to communicate clearly the options available to the owner. A recent report on people’s response to bad news cited most respondents as retaining only about 15 percent of what was told to them on the first visit. It is therefore imperative to supply literature and information to owners about their petsâ€™ cancers that can be read at a leisurely pace.
Veterinary oncology has learned a tremendous amount from the human experience, however there are some major differences. In animals, cure is often not a realistic goal but rather quality of life, and therefore when chemotherapy is used drug dosages are lower.
As a result, they do not experience the same side effects associated with chemotherapy in man.
However, complications associated with treatment do occur, e.g. drug induced pancreatitis, and bone marrow suppression.

Cancer is essentially a genetic disease. Two of the most important discoveries have been the identification of genes called oncogenes (onco meaning cancer) and cancer suppressor genes.
Oncogenes exist in the normal cell but when cancer occurs, depending on the cause, these genes are modified. These genes are involved in regulating cell activity, e.g. growth and protein production, and when changed uncontrolled growth occurs. Cancer suppressor genes on the other hand, act to suppress uncontrolled cell growth. When they are changed cells develop immortality.The normal check and balances that determine if a cell should divide are lost. It is worth noting that unlike oncogenes, cancer suppressor genes may be found in germ cells, allowing the defect to be passed from one generation to the next. It has become clear that no single gene is responsible for the transformation of a cell, but rather two or more oncogenes as well as cancer suppressor genes are needed.

There are also a number of pathways that may be involved in the generation of a particular cancer. These are via: heritable carcinogenesis, passive carcinogenesis, chemical carcinogenesis and physical carcinogens. Cancers are a collection of cells that are always changing. This phenomenon is termed cancer progression. Cancer progression generally results in disease that is more aggressive. This may partly explain the poor prognosis of cancers that are detected late.

The major distinguishing feature between benign or malignant cancers is the ability of malignant cancers to spread to distant sites.

Clinical Staging
Staging is the process of investigating and documenting the extension of a cancer within the body. This is achieved by physical examination, X-rays, ultrasound, CT, nuclear medicine MRI and biopsy.

Treatment of Cancers
Cancers are treated in several ways depending on their position, malignancy and tissue type.
Most solid cancers are treated using surgery followed by chemotherapy and/or radiation.

Chemotherapy
Other than for cancers arising from immune system and bone marrow, chemotherapy is employed in combination with other treatment options (e.g. radiation and/or surgery).
Chemotherapy’s main function in these cases is to mop up leftover cancer cells or to suppress distant metastases. Few chemotherapeutic agents are without side effects and in some cases these toxicities are life threatening. Resistance to treatment, as is seen with antibiotic resistance, also occurs with chemotherapy and leads to therapy failure.

Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy involves the treatment of cancers with radiation delivered by way of either modified X-ray machines (orthovoltage or linear accelerators) or radioactive sources such as cobalt-60. Radiation therapy works by causing free radicals (reactive molecules), which then damage the cells DNA. Cells then die when they reach the stage of wanting to divide. This process is dependent on the susceptibility of the tissue and the presence of oxygen. Typically, tissue such as brain is resistant to the effects of radiation since the cells are not dividing whereas bone marrow cells are very susceptible due to their rapid division.

Surgery
This is the oldest method and still the most effective of treating cancer in the early stage.
Surgical techniques are advancing all the time, which enable veterinary oncologists to achieve the ultimate goal of cure. In most cases of malignant cancer, surgery forms part of the therapy that may include chemotherapy and radiation.

Nutrition
Nutrition is probably the most neglected part of therapy for cancer. Research has shown that there are substantial changes in the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and protein that occur in a patient with cancer. A specific cancer diet has been formulated by Hills known as n/d. This diet contains high levels of essential fatty acids (FFA) in the form of omega-3 FFA (fish oil is high in omega-3). Omega-3 has been shown to aid in the reversal of the metabolic changes seen with cancer. This diet also has reduced levels of carbohydrate, the reason for this is that cancers prefer sugars to metabolize and produce less energy from this metabolism. The body has to then convert the lactic acid from this cancer metabolism back to a usable fuel for cells at a net loss of energy to the body. Correct nutrition in cancers will starve the cancer of nutrients and thereby aid in the treatment.

Alternative
Alternative therapy covers all the aspects, from herbal remedies to acupuncture. While these therapies may be beneficial, the vast majority of them have not been subjected to close scientific scrutiny. The use of antioxidants are beneficial in preventing cancers, however, they may be contraindicated during therapy. The reason for this is that most drug and radiation therapy for cancer work via the production of oxidants (free radicals) and concurrent use of antioxidants may cause the drugs to work sub optimally.

When we evaluate the effectiveness of therapy, we use the following terminology. The terms used by definition are:

Complete Response (CR): Disappearance of all cancer in all sites for a defined period of time.
Partial Response (PR): Decrease in size of all cancers by 50 percent or greater as measured by the sum of the products of two diameters for each cancer. There should be sustained decrease in cancer size, as defined for CR, and no new cancers should arise.
Stable Disease (SD): Decrease of 50 percent or an increase of 25 percent in the sum of the products of the diameters as measured for PR.
Progressive Disease (PD): Increase of 25 percent or more in the sum of the products of cancer diameters or the appearance of a new cancer.Note: It should be remembered that remission does not necessarily mean cure but rather the disappearance of clinically detectable disease.
Common Cancer TypesLymphoma in Dogs:
Dogs with lymphoma (cancer of the lymphoid tissue) typically present with enlarged glands, either locally or all external glands. Since the body has lymphoid tissue everywhere, it can occur in any organ. However, the multicentric (all peripheral glands form is the most common). When veterinarians stage lymphoma in the dog, the most important criteria they look for are: extent of the disease (does it involve the spleen and/or liver), whether or not the dog has systemic signs (e.g. weight loss, excess urine production), and type of lymphoid cell involved. These criteria are used to determine the chances for a meaningful response to treatment. Veterinary oncologists will treat most lymphomas as the therapy relieves many of the symptoms of the cancer and response can sometimes be unpredictable.

Treatment can take various forms depending on the site and extent of the lymphoma. However, chemotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment. Drugs most commonly used are cortisone, alkylating agents and anthracycline antibiotics. Most treatments consist of multiple drugs, although there are single drug treatments. Therapy is divided into an induction period of 4-6 weeks followed by maintenance treatment for 6-24 months. The most effective combination is known as the Wisconsin-Madison protocol. This protocol gives the best remissions and survival times. However, since it has multiple drugs it also has a moderate level of toxicity. The goal of treatment is to achieve a good remission of the cancer. Remission rates vary from three months to as much as 36 months or longer. Generally, a stage III lymphoma with no complications can be expected to remain in remission for 6-9 months followed by re-induction of remission for, on average, another 3-6 months. Cure of canine lymphoma is only rarely achieved.

Perianal Cancers:
These are cancers arising around the anus. They are more common in the male dogs than in female dogs. The most common cancers are perianal adenoma (80 percent), followed by adenocarcinoma and anal sac adenocarcinoma (apocrine gland). Perianal adenoma occurs more commonly in intact males and older large breeds of dog. Testosterone secretion from the adrenal glands (with or without Cushingâ€™s) may stimulate perianal adenomas. Treatment includes surgical removal of the mass and castration.
Perianal adenocarcinoma is also seen in male dogs and metastasizes locally to the regional lymph node. Prognosis is good if the mass is smaller than five centimeters and can be removed completely with surgery. Castration does not make a difference. Anal sac adenocarcinoma (apocrine gland) is a highly malignant cancer with an increased occurrence in old female dogs. The cancer is often associated with increased urine production resulting in increased water intake. This is due to high calcium levels in the blood. Prognosis is generally poor as the cancer shows early spread and is often resistant to treatment.

Hemangiosarcoma
Hemangiosarcoma is a highly malignant cancer of the blood vessel wall. It is more common in the dog and occurs in the spleen, right atrium of the heart and skin. Large breeds of dog appear to have a greater incidence with German Shepherd Dogs having the highest incidence. Because this cancer occurs in deep organs, owners are often unaware that their dogs have the tumor until it suddenly ruptures, which leads to bleeding either in the abdomen or around the heart. These dogs commonly present in a shocked state with white gums and abnormal rhythm to the heart.
Dogs may even die suddenly for no apparent reason. The best instrument to diagnose the presence of the cancer is ultrasound. When hemangiosarcoma occurs in the skin it can be due to sun damage or metastasis from a distant site (e.g. spleen). Therapy for this cancer is generally unrewarding except for the skin (sun-induced) cancer. Average survival following removal of a spleen is three months.

Mammary Neoplasia
Mammary cancer in dogs is seen most often in older intact females. There is a clear statistical link between time of spaying a dog in relation to the number of seasons she has had. The earlier she is spayed the less likely she will develop mammary cancer; so much so that there is even a difference between first and subsequent seasons. Typical presentation is, as in humans, a lump that is felt within the mammary gland. Fifty percent of these turn out to be malignant which go on to spread to the local gland and then to the lungs. Treatment is mainly surgical with radiation and chemotherapy in some cases. Surgery invariably means radical mastectomy. In benign tumor lumpectomy can be done.

Osteosarcoma
Osteosarcoma is a cancer of the bone-producing cells of the body. It is a highly malignant cancer, which results in destruction of the bone and in most cases early spread to the lungs. It is a particularly painful cancer, as are most bone cancers. The cancer occurs most commonly in giant breeds of dog, although not exclusively. The most common bones affected are the long bones of the limbs with the site on the bone being away from the elbow towards the knee. The current gold standard for treatment is surgical amputation followed by chemotherapy using a drug called carboplatin. The author (University of Florida) is researching alternative therapies in dogs that cannot undergo amputation. Currently two clinical trials are running.

Mast Cell Cancer (MCT)
Mast cells occur throughout the body and take part in the inflammatory reaction associated with allergies. They contain histamine and other pro-inflammatory agents. Because of the histamine contained in MCT, these cancers can cause gastric ulceration and acute allergic reactions. Mast cell cancer commonly arises on the skin but can occur elsewhere. When veterinarians stage an MCT, they take into account the following criteria: position on the body, grade of the cancer, how quickly it grew, and the breed. Criteria that carry a poor prognosis are high grade MCT located in the inguinal (groin) area that have grown rapidly. Treatment varies depending on the former criteria but may include at the very least surgery and/or chemotherapy and possible radiation therapy.

Dog Owners and Breeders Symposium
July 27, 2002
University of Florida
College of Veterinary Medicine

Bone Cancer & Neutering

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:19:28 +0000

Read the full text of the article or the Abstract and Excerpts below:

http://cebp.aacrjournals.org

Abstract:

Although experimental and clinical evidence suggest that endogenous sex hormones influence bone sarcoma genesis, the hypothesis has not been adequately tested in an appropriate animal model. We conducted a historical cohort study of Rottweiler dogs because they frequently undergo elective gonadectomy and spontaneously develop appendicular bone sarcomas, which mimic the biological behavior of the osteosarcomas that affect children and adolescents.
Data were collected by questionnaire from owners of 683 Rottweiler dogs living in North America. To determine whether there was an association between endogenous sex hormones and risk of bone sarcoma, relative risk (RR) of incidence rates and hazard ratios for bone sarcoma were calculated for dogs subdivided on the basis of lifetime gonadal hormone exposure.
Bone sarcoma was diagnosed in 12.6% of dogs in this cohort during 71,004 dog-months follow-up. Risk for bone sarcoma was significantly influenced by age at gonadectomy. Male and female dogs that underwent gonadectomy before 1 year of age had an approximate one in four lifetime risk for bone sarcoma and were significantly more likely to develop bone sarcoma than dogs that were sexually intact [RR Â±95% CI = 3.8 (1.5â€“9.2) for males; RR Â±95% CI = 3.1 (1.1â€“8.3) for females]. Ï‡2 test for trend showed a highly significant inverse dose-response relationship between duration of lifetime gonadal exposure and incidence rate of bone sarcoma (P = 0.008 for males, P = 0.006 for females). This association was independent of adult height or body weight. We conclude that the subset of Rottweiler dogs that undergo early gonadectomy represent a unique, highly accessible target population to further study the gene:environment interactions that determine bone sarcoma risk and to test whether interventions can inhibit the spontaneous development of bone sarcoma.

Excerpts:

Our finding that neutered Rottweiler dogs are at increased risk for bone sarcoma is consistent with the findings of Ru et al. (17) . Using a computerized database from North American Veterinary Teaching Hospitals from 1980 to 1994, a case-control study of 3062 osteosarcoma cases and 3959 control dogs was conducted to evaluate risk factors of osteosarcoma in purebred dogs of various breeds. Neutered dogs were at 2.2 times (95% CI = 2.0â€“2.4) greater risk of osteosarcoma than sexually intact dogs (17) . Because the database used in that study provided no information on age at gonadectomy, the study could not evaluate bone sarcoma risk in terms of duration of gonadal hormone exposure. Our results indicate that dogs undergoing early gonadectomy have the highest risk for bone sarcoma development….
In summary, this study found that male and female Rottweilers with the shortest lifetime gonadal exposure had the highest risk for bone sarcoma. Dogs that underwent early elective gonadectomy had a one in four lifetime risk of bone sarcoma development compared with a significantly reduced risk among dogs that were sexually intact throughout their lifetime.<

FDA approves mast cell tumor therapy

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:33:04 +0000

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/152760.php
Pfizer Animal Health today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first canine cancer therapy in the U.S. – PALLADIATM (toceranib phosphate) – which was developed by Pfizer to treat mast cell tumors in dogs. Pfizer made the announcement to veterinarians attending the 2009 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Forum and Canadian Veterinary Medical Association Convention.
“Pfizer Animal Health is proud to bring the first canine cancer therapy approved by the FDA to U.S. specialists, their patients and caregivers,” said George Fennell, vice president, Companion Animal Division, Pfizer Animal Health. “In the weeks and months ahead, Pfizer will introduce PALLADIA to boarded specialists to expand the body of clinical experience with this new therapy. The experience gained during this time will enable us to support veterinarians more effectively when we make the product available for purchase in early 2010,” Fennell said.

Pet caregivers should continue to consult with their local veterinarians about options for their dogs with cancer, who may then refer appropriate cases to specialists for treatment with PALLADIA.

A new option to treat canine mast cell tumors

According to the Morris Animal Foundation, cancer is a leading cause of death in dogs. 1

Pfizer Animal Health estimates 1.2 million new canine cancer cases are reported in the U.S. every year. 2 Mast cell tumors are the second most common tumor type and are often seen as lumps in the skin. These tumors are classified as grade I, II or III, with grade III being the most severe. If not treated, they can spread to other parts of the body including lymph nodes.

Prescription-only PALLADIA is an oral therapy indicated to treat Patnaik grade II or III recurrent cutaneous mast cell tumors with or without regional lymph node involvement. PALLADIA belongs to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) class of compounds. It works by blocking the activity of key receptors important for the development of blood vessels that supply tumors, as well as receptors critical for tumor survival.

“PALLADIA is an exciting, new treatment option for dogs with mast cell tumors,” said Cheryl London, DVM, PhD, board certified medical oncologist and associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

“At the completion of a PALLADIA clinical study, approximately 60% of dogs had their tumors disappear, shrink or stop growing. Also, we determined that dogs whose tumors responded to PALLADIA experienced an improved quality of life,”3 said Dr. London, who has helped Pfizer Animal Health’s Veterinary Medicine Research & Development to develop PALLADIA since 2000.

PALLADIA can be administered in a veterinary clinic or in the home by a dog’s caregiver. PALLADIA is not for human use and is only available in the U.S. Adverse events with PALLADIA can be serious but most are mild to moderate and are generally manageable. The most common side effects of PALLADIA involve the gastrointestinal tract and signs include diarrhea, decreased appetite, lethargy and vomiting. Life-threatening adverse events are rare but possible and early recognition is critical. Children should not come in contact with PALLADIA. In addition, all individuals, including children and pregnant women, should avoid direct contact with broken or partially-dissolved PALLADIA tablets or biological waste from dogs treated with PALLADIA. For specific dosing and prescribing information, visit http://www.palladia-pi.com.

About Pfizer Animal Health

Pfizer Animal Health, one of six business units of Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE), is a world leader in discovering and developing innovative animal prescription medicines and vaccines, investing an estimated $300 million annually. In 2007, Pfizer Animal Health began to expand its focus on pet oncology through a $1.1 million grant to the Morris Animal Foundation in support of an ongoing national canine tumor biospecimen bank. For more information on how Pfizer helps companion animals to live longer, healthier lives, or how Pfizer works to ensure a safe, sustainable global food supply with healthy livestock, visit http://www.PfizerAH.com.

About the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM)

The ACVIM is the national certifying organization for veterinary specialists in large and small animal internal medicine, cardiology, neurology and oncology. The mission of the ACVIM is to enhance animal and human health by advancing veterinary internal medicine through training, education and discovery. For more information, please visit http://www.ACVIM.org.

1 http://www.CureCanineCancer.org

2 Pfizer Animal Health Market Research, New York, New York, data on file

3 London CA, Malpas PB, Wood-Follis SL, et al. Multi-center, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized study of oral toceranib phosphate (SU11654), a receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of dogs with recurrent (either local or distant) mast cell tumor following surgical excision. Clinical Cancer Research. Published online May 26, 2009 as 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-08-1860.

Source
Pfizer Animal Health

Diet,cancer, spaying

mom — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:44:25 +0000

Canine and human breast cancer share several important clinical and histologic features. A case-control study of nutritional factors and canine breast cancer was conducted at the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1984-1987 by interviewing owners of 150 pet dogs diagnosed with breast cancer, owners of 147 cancer control dogs, and owners of 131 noncancer control dogs.Am J Epidemiol. 1991 Apr 1;133(7):694-703.
Body conformation, diet, and risk of breast cancer in pet dogs: a case-control study.
Sonnenschein EG, Glickman LT, Goldschmidt MH, McKee LJ.
Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University Medical School, NY 10010.
The risk of breast cancer was significantly reduced in dogs spayed at or before 2.5 years of age. Neither a high-fat diet nor obesity 1 year before diagnosis increased the risk of breast cancer according to multiple logistic regression analysis. However, the risk of breast cancer among spayed dogs was significantly reduced in dogs that had been thin at 9-12 months of age (odds ratio (OR) = 0.04 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.004-0.4) and OR = 0.04 (95% CI 0.004-0.5) for cases vs. cancer controls and cases vs. noncancer controls, respectively, after adjustment for age at spay). Among intact dogs, the risk associated with being thin at 9-12 months of age was reduced, but not significantly so (OR = 0.60 (95% CI 0.2-1.9) and OR = 0.51 (95% CI 0.2-1.4) for the two comparisons, respectively). Results of this study suggest that nutritional factors operating early in life may be of etiologic importance in canine breast cancer
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2004 Feb 1;224(3):380-7. : Long-term risks and benefits of early-age gonadectomy in dogs.
Spain CV, Scarlett JM, Houpt KA.
Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term risks and benefits of early-age gonadectomy, compared with traditional-age gonadectomy, among dogs adopted from a large animal shelter. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. ANIMALS: 1,842 dogs. PROCEDURE: Dogs underwent gonadectomy and were adopted from an animal shelter before 1 year of age; follow-up was available for as long as 11 years after surgery. Adopters completed a questionnaire about their dogs’ behavior and medical history. When possible, the dogs’ veterinary records were reviewed. Associations between the occurrence of 56 medical and behavioral conditions and dogs’ age at gonadectomy were evaluated. RESULTS: Among female dogs, early-age gonadectomy was associated with increased rate of cystitis and decreasing age at gonadectomy was associated with increased rate of urinary incontinence. Among male and female dogs with early-age gonadectomy, hip dysplasia, noise phobias, and sexual behaviors were increased, whereas obesity, separation anxiety, escaping behaviors, inappropriate elimination when frightened, and relinquishment for any reason were decreased.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Because early-age gonadectomy appears to offer more benefits than risks for male dogs, animal shelters can safely gonadectomize male dogs at a young age and veterinary practitioners should consider recommending routine gonadectomy for client-owned male dogs before the traditional age of 6 to 8 months. For female dogs, however, increased urinary incontinence suggests that delaying gonadectomy until at least 3 months of age may be beneficial.<

Cancer risks

mom — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:42:28 +0000

“Interestingly, cancers of the ovaries and uterus are rare in dogs. This could be because most dogs do not reach the age at which these cancers become more common. “…..”Purebred dogs are twice as likely to get breast cancer as are mixed breed dogs of the same age. The most important conclusion gained from examining studies of breast cancer in dogs is that early spaying protects against breast cancer.Review of the Epidemiology of Cancer in Dogs by Todd Bessinger

The greatest protection from spaying occurs if the dog is spayed before her first heat. The protective value of spaying drops steadily until age 2 1/2. If the bitch is spayed at or after age 2 1/2, the risk of getting breast cancer is statistically no different from a bitch which was never spayed. One study, however, found at least some protection from breast cancer when bitches were spayed up to five years of age. Clearly, however, the earlier a bitch is spayed, the less likely she is to get breast cancer… Unspayed bitches who were underweight as puppies have about half the risk of developing breast cancer as puppies who were of normal or above-normal weight. A related finding was that obese dogs with breast cancer were four times as likely to have more malignant, aggressive tumors than were dogs of normal weight. ….Dogs with undescended testicles (i.e., the testicles do not properly migrate to the scrotum but remain in the body cavity) have a markedly higher risk than other dogs to develop this type of cancer. Dogs with inguinal hernias are also at increased risk. Obviously, neutering of dogs prevents the development of this type of cancer….Osteosarcoma tends to affect larger breeds with a slight increase in incidence with age. Males are more likely to be affected than are females. And since neutered dogs and bitches have twice the risk of developing the disease as compared to intact dogs, hormonal factors are thought to play a role…Bladder cancers is dogs are more likely to occur in older dogs. Two studies found a one and one-half to threefold higher risk in females while a third study found no differences between the genders. This latter study did find that neutered dogs of both sexes seem to be at higher risk. “<

Cancer risks in cats and dogs

mom — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:41:01 +0000

Cancer Risks in Cats and Dogs By Theresa A. Fuess, Ph.D. Information Specialist University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine
“Spaying and neutering can reduce the risk of cancer. Dogs spayed before the first heat cycle have only half the risk of mammary carcinoma of those spayed after the first but before the second heat cycle. Dogs spayed after the fifth heat cycle or never spayed have the highest risk of mammary cancer. Testicular carcinomas or tumors in dogs are common, but having your dog neutered eliminates that risk. Fortunately, testicular cancer rarely spreads in dogs, unlike in human beings, so treatment has a high success rate.”<